The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Hiking South Africa: the northeast (with two bonuses)

I have been in Southern Africa the past seven weeks doing some amazing hikes. First was two weeks on a KE Adventures Walking South Africa group trip, the subject of this post. Our small group took a circular overland trip from Johannesburg, a longer variant of the Panorama Route, comprising numerous day hikes and nature walks, three jeep safaris, and lashings of culture and history.

I also completed a Garden Route trip with an Explore Worldwide group, managing to add several walks and hikes both during it and afterwards in Cape Town. In between I spent more than a week on Mauritius and Réunion Islands in the Indian Ocean (ok, it’s not Africa) where my focus was, unsurprisingly, hiking. Those two adventures will be subjects for upcoming blog posts.

Physical map of South Africa showing both this and the Garden Route trips. The blue pins represent hikes I recorded on AllTrails. For reference, South Africa is about twice the size of France.
Our very knowledgeable and personable guide, Dylan, at the trailhead for Mac Mac Pools, a short introductory hike
The Mac Mac River landscape, Mpumalanga Forest Nature Reserve near Graskop
Boardwalk heading to God’s Window, a cliff-side viewpoint near Graskop in Mpumalanga.
God’s Window “view.” Well, every day can’t be sunny!
Blyde River Canyon vista. This canyon is the third-largest canyon on Earth, behind the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia.
Another view of the Blyde River Canyon. The hike this day was much longer, but fortunately the rain for the most part held off.
Kadisi Creek lunch spot in the Blyde River Canyon. I was not tempted to take a dip, in part since my luggage hadn’t arrived and I consequently spent two weeks with only a carry-on and a few purchased clothes.
The Red Elephant, our truck transport for the two week overland journey. Sunway Safaris is the local operator of this trip.
Landscape featuring an amazingly persistent tree near our trailhead in eSwatini (aka Swaziland). This hike, the third of our trip, was to Malolotja Falls.
Three of our group walking to Malolotja Falls. We were only five clients plus a leader and driver, who doubled as a cook. The haze during this trip was often very noticeable.
River view on the way down to Malolotja Falls. Yes, this was a “reverse” hike.
Drakensberg hairbell (Dierama dracomontanum). Much of the flora is unique to the region and will feature in this and the next two posts.
Not so unique is the least snout-bean (Rhynchosia minima), found on every continent
Our objective: Malolotja Falls
Our Zulu guide for the Iswandlhana battlefield exploration. This day in Zululand featured two cultural/historical walks.
An historic building near the battlefield
A beautifully refurbished traditional hut near the Iswandlhana battlefield.
Iswandlhana battlefield landscape with grave cairns. This battle in January 1879 was the second in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.
The Red Elephant (where we had a picnic lunch this day) and an Iswandlhana monument
The Buffalo River, start point of our hike up to Rorke’s Drift, on the afternoon of the same day.
Rorke’s Drift graveyard monument. The defense of the garrison by the British immediately followed their defeat at Iswandlhana.
Landscape with Natal bottlebrush, Royal Natal National Park, on our short afternoon hike from our Thendele lodge to Tiger Falls. This hike was intended as the first of three in this Drakensberg Mountains park.
Ocimum obovatum, commonly known as cat’s whiskers
Our group resting below the falls. The light here this late in the day made taking a good photo of the falls impossible. . .
. . . however, on our return hike to our lodge the light was fantastic for photography of the Drakensberg landscape. Can you spot the rancher’s hut?
Pano from near our lodge at Thendele in Royal Natal NP. The light makes this photo look fake, but it is a good representation of the landscape.
Our second hike in the Drakensberg was Tugela Gorge. Here our group was at a rest stop on this all day excursion.
Tugela Gorge featured a lot of rock-hopping
The tunnel in Tugela Gorge, our lunch stop. From here it would have required wading to get to the actual waterfall. None of us was tempted.
A female Rock Agama I spotted on the return hike.

Our plan the following day was to hike up Sentinel Peak for the climax of our two week journey. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that the trails were closed; instead we spent much of the day chilling at the lovely Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge nearby. In point of fact, the Tugele Gorge hike itself (14km with 650m elevation gain over rocky terrain) was a fine culmination to the journey.

Bonus #1: Wildlife Jeep Safaris

And now the first of two bonuses in this post. It would be inconceivable to go on three jeep safaris, two of which were in Kruger National Park, and not share a few of the photos. Obviously, as all of the “Big 5*” were present, no walking was permitted! (Except as noted, all photos are from Kruger).

Blue wildebeest ruminating in the savanna
Riparian landscape
A gorgeous lilac-breasted roller, national bird of Kenya
Endangered southern ground hornbills
Amorous hippos
A South African giraffe watching us
Two male lions ignoring us
An inquisitive Cape buffalo and a red-billed oxpecker
A beautiful male impala
Plains zebras on the lookout
A warthog at Hluhluwe Game Reserve, the oldest such reserve in Africa
A de-horned white rhino grazing at Hluhluwe Game Reserve
Mother hyena resting with two cute kits
A leopard proceeding about its business

* the Big Five are: lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino, and elephant

Bonus #2: Victoria Falls

Having a couple of extra days to kill after the Walking South Africa tour, I flew to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for two nights. As it turned out, getting to the falls proved to be my longest walk of the trip – more than 16km from my lodge all the way to Zambia and back! My recommendation is to skip Zambia altogether, except in the rainy season. Even in the dry season, though, prepared to be awed from the Zimbabwe side.

Early morning light. The entrance fee of $58 was well worth the experience.
The western-most of the falls. Except for the last photo, all were taken from the Zimbabwe (west) side of the Zambezi River.
What awesome power, even in the dry season!
A forest path. The constant mist makes for some very lush vegetation.
Merremia palmata, a lovely morning-glory
Another Victoria Falls view
A bather in the Devil’s Pool with several watching, taken at high zoom through the mist. One can get a ticket for a boat ride to Livingstone Island for this experience. I chose not to.
View upriver from the Victoria Falls bridge
The Victoria Falls bridge over the Zambezi, seen from Zambia. A huge amount of road traffic queues, often for hours, to cross this dramatic single-lane Victorian-era bridge.

As I am well behind in sorting all my photos, my next two blog posts will likely need to wait until I have some down time in December in Lanzarote. Between now and then I have a short trip to Texas followed by a two week excursion to southern India to enjoy a trek, nature, and wonderful food.

The Vagabond Hiker

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